The fight to manufacture Covid vaccines in lower-income countries

‘Instead of holding out for today’s popular vaccines, some researchers hope that those in clinical trials will be easier to license and make in the global south. At the top of the list are protein-subunit vaccines, in which peptides matching those from SARS-CoV-2 teach the immune system to recognize the virus and fight it off. Researchers say the benefit of such vaccines is that vats of yeast or insect cells can churn out huge quantities of peptides, making the vaccines scalable. They add that many companies are familiar with the process because they produce vaccines for other diseases and recombinant drugs in a similar fashion.’

Read here (Nature, Sept 15, 2021)

Lessons learnt for pandemic preparedness in Malaysia ― Chan Chee Khoon

1. Undocumented migrants in novel infectious outbreaks

‘Malaysia, sadly, is reaping the consequences of decades of corrupt mismanagement of the “supply chain” for foreign labour, viz. a persistently large pool of undocumented migrant workers, often in congested workplaces and dormitories, who have strong incentives to avoid contact with government agencies. 

‘Already fearful of detection, arrest, and deportation in pre-pandemic times, undocumented migrants’ insecurities were exacerbated by the policy reversals of the Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) and its contradictory messaging over an offer of temporary amnesty to facilitate Covid testing, contact tracing, isolation & treatment, and vaccination.

‘This deeply rooted problem with undocumented migrants, which persists despite repeated rounds of amnesties, will prolong our catastrophic experience with Covid-19 (and future pandemics as well).’

2. Local manufacture of vaccines

‘The major bottleneck was vaccine supply.  The likelihood of further variants and endemic Covid emphasises the importance of local capacity for manufacturing vaccines and other pandemic essentials, as part of Malaysia’s pandemic preparedness.’

Read here (The Malay Mail, Sept 1, 2021) 

Why the world should worry about India

‘The world’s largest vaccine producer is struggling to overcome its latest COVID-19 surge—and that’s everyone’s problem...

‘None of the Indian government’s missteps absolve the world from caring about what happens to the country, nor should they. Beyond the obvious moral reasons are practical ones too. As I have repeatedly written before, uncontrolled outbreaks anywhere pose a threat everywhere, including vaccine-rich countries such as the United States. Perhaps the biggest concern right now, in India and elsewhere, is the threat posed by more transmissible variants and their potential ability to overcome vaccine immunity. Though virtually every known variant, including those from Britain, Brazil, and South Africa, has been identified in India, in some states the Indian strain has become the most prevalent.

“It’s very similar to what we saw in Manaus,” Christina Pagel, the director of clinical operational research at University College London, told me, referring to the badly hit Brazilian city. She noted that “it’s not a coincidence that these variants are arising in populations that have developed immunity through infection.”

Read here (The Atlantic, Apr 26, 2021)

What it will take to vaccinate the world against Covid-19

‘A special report outlines the challenges — from unleashing the power of mRNA vaccines, to the battle for temporary relief on intellectual-property rights...

‘In the long term, argues Friede, every region needs a facility that fully owns the production know-how and can produce vaccines. The gap is most egregious in Africa, a continent that imports 99% of its vaccines, says Nkengasong. It has only three big vaccine manufacturers. “Can a continent of 1.2 billion — projected to be 2.4 billion in 30 years, where one in four people in the world will be African — continue to import 99% of its vaccines?” Nkengasong asks.’

Read here (Nature, Mar 25, 2021)

Vaccine makers say coronavirus could be stopped around the globe in months rather than years. Here's how

‘[Bangladhesh's] drug makers say they could produce hundreds of millions of doses in a quick timeframe, if only they could secure a vaccine blueprint... Incepta Pharmaceuticals lies on the outskirts of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, in an industrial neighbourhood. Fitted out with the latest technology from Germany, the company already produces vaccines to fight a wide array of diseases such as hepatitis b, typhoid, the flu, tetanus, measles, meningococcal and rabies.

‘Mr [Abdul] Muktadir [chairman of Incepta Pharmaceuticals] said the company had plenty of capacity to produce more drugs and could manufacture between 600 to 800 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines annually. "If we get the ready-to-fill material or antigen, instead of waiting until 2023, we can make this vaccine available to our entire nation population within two to three months' time," he said.’

Read here (ABC News, Mar 20, 2021)

Coronavirus vaccine: China can meet demand ‘at home and abroad’

‘China is giving priority to coronavirus inoculation campaigns at home but will still be able to honour promises of vaccines for other countries, according to a senior official in charge of producing the doses. Tian Yulong, chief engineer with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said domestic needs had taken precedence but with expanded production of four approved vaccines, he was confident that China would be able to meet the combined demand of domestic inoculation, foreign aid and exports.

“We have successfully met demand to give out more than 64 million doses at home. We have also had good feedback about our exports and foreign aid,” Tian said in Beijing on Monday.

Read here (South China Morning Post, Mar 15, 2021)

Patently unfair: Can waivers help solve Covid vaccine inequality?

‘The World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council gathered virtually on Monday for the first of two days of talks amid increasing calls from civil society, states and nongovernmental actors to temporarily waive patents for COVID-19 vaccines and other coronavirus-related medical products. Endorsing a waiver on Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “If not now, when?”

‘At the core of the discussion stands a proposal submitted in October by South Africa and India to suspend the WTO’s agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. The goal is to facilitate the transfer of technology and scientific knowledge to developing countries to ramp up the global production of vaccines and other necessary equipment.’

Read here (Aljazeera, Mar 1, 2021)

Not without India: World's pharmacy gears up for vaccine race

‘India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, is getting set for the massive global blitz to contain the coronavirus pandemic with its pharmaceutical industry and partners freeing up capacity and accelerating investments even without firm purchase orders. India manufactures more than 60% of all vaccines sold across the globe, and while its $40 billion pharmaceutical sector is not yet involved in the production of the expensive Pfizer Inc and Moderna shots, the nation will play a pivotal role in immunizing much of the world. Indian companies are set to produce eight, more affordable vaccines designed to fight COVID-19, including AstraZeneca's Covishield, called the "vaccine for the world here" by its developers.’

Read here (Reuters, Dec 10, 2020)